Manuel Perez
Manuel 'Manny' Perez (17 June 1914 – 18 January 1981) was a Mexican-American animator and animation director whose career spanned 40 years, from the 1940s to the 1980s, and best known for his work on the Warner Bros. animated shorts, working on such cartoons as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Later in his career he worked on Fritz the Cat and The Lord of the Rings. Born in 1914 in Morenci in Arizona, in 1917 his family moved to Los Angeles where Perez later attended high school. An athlete, he took part in football, baseball and track. Two years after graduating he was hired by Leon Schlesinger as a trainee animator. On 17 April 1938 he married Connie (née Perez). 'Manny' Perez worked on over 300 cartoons during the 'Golden Age of American Animation', mainly for Warner Bros. Cartoons, for whom he started animating in 1938, but also for Bill Melendez Productions, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Hanna-Barbera. His first credited cartoon was Porky's Bear Facts (1941). Among the cartoons he animated were those featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety and Sylvester, Quick Draw McGraw, the Pink Panther, Charlie Brown, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Doctor Dolittle, The Cat in the Hat, Fritz the Cat and Plastic Man, among many others. A member of the labor union The Screen Cartoonists Guild, Perez was one of the animators involved in the 'Looney Tunes Lock Out' of 1941, when Leon Schlesinger, who had been producing cartoons for Warner Bros. Cartoons since the mid-1930s, locked out those animators who had joined the Guild, including Perez. After six days Schlesinger relented and allowed them to go back to work. Despite having worked for Friz Freleng for about ten years, the two did not get along. According to animator Greg Duffell in 1999: Virgil Ross told me that Perez was "Friz's whipping boy"... Virgil felt that Friz belittled Manny, then when Manny left Virgil felt that he became the target of Friz’ wrath... I met Manny Perez in 1975 at San Rio Productions during the production of a feature film (I've forgotten the title now) that was like a rock music Fantasia. I was quite thrilled, of course, to meet Mr. Perez (didn't know he'd be there) and started to ask him questions about his work. At that time, I wasn't clear which animator did what, though I could see the various styles while watching the cartoons. Manny was very elusive about identifying any of his work for me. At the mention of Friz' name he said these words, with a tense smile, that I'll never forget: "You know, I worked so long for him....well...I got to hate that little guy..." In his later years Perez worked on Journey Back to Oz (1971); the animated version of The Lord of the Rings (1978), and The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (1979). He died in January 1981 aged 66 at Van Nuys in California. Looney Works * 14 Carrot Rabbit * A-Haunting We Will Go * Ain't She Tweet * Ain't That Ducky * Along Came Daffy * Ant Pasted * Assault and Peppered * The Astroduck * Back Alley Oproar * Bad Ol' Putty Tat * Ballot Box Bunny * Baseball Bugs * A Bird in a Guilty Cage * A Bone for a Bone * Buccaneer Bunny * Bugs and Thugs * The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special * Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips * Bugs Bunny Rides Again * The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie * Canned Feud * Captain Hareblower * Cats and Bruises * Catty Cornered * Chili Corn Corny * Corn on the Cop * Cracked Quack * Curtain Razor * Daffy - The Commando * Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special * Daffy Rents * Daffy's Diner * Ding Dog Daddy * Dog Collared * Dog Pounded * Double Chaser * Dough for the Do-Do * Dr. Jerkyl's Hide * Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century * Duck Soup to Nuts * Each Dawn I Crow * The Fair Haired Hare * Feather Finger * The Fifth-Column Mouse * The Fighting 69½th * Foney Fables * Fowl Weather * Foxy by Proxy * Freeze Frame * Fresh Hare * The Gay Anties * Gift Wrapped * Go Go Amigo * Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears * Goo Goo Goliath * Greetings Bait * Hare Do * Hare Force * A Hare Grows in Manhattan * Hare Lift * Hare Splitter * Hare Trigger * Hare Trimmed * The Hare-Brained Hypnotist * Herr Meets Hare * Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt * High Diving Hare * His Hare Raising Tale * Hiss and Make Up * Holiday for Shoestrings * Hollywood Daffy * Hop, Skip and a Chump * Hot Spot * I Gopher You * I Taw a Putty Tat * Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk * Kit for Cat * Knights Must Fall * Life with Feathers * Lights Fantastic * Little Blabbermouse * Little Red Riding Rabbit * Little Red Rodent Hood * Lumber Jerks * Malibu Beach Party * Meatless Flyday * Mexican Mousepiece * Moby Duck * A Mouse Divided * Mouse Mazurka * Mucho Locos * Muzzle Tough * Notes to You * Of Thee I Sting * Operation Snafu * Payday * Peck Up Your Troubles * Pests for Guests * Pigs in a Polka * Pizzicato Pussycat * Pop 'Im Pop! * Porky's Bear Facts * Porky's Pastry Pirates * Putty Tat Trouble * Rabbit Every Monday * Rabbit Transit * Racketeer Rabbit * Rhapsody in Rivets * Rhapsody Rabbit * Robot Rabbit * Rookie Revue * Room and Bird * Rumors * Rushing Roulette * Sandy Claws * Saps in Chaps * Satan's Waitin' * The Sheepish Wolf * Slick Hare * Snafuperman * Snow Business * Snow Excuse * Southern Fried Rabbit * Sport Chumpions * A Squeak in the Deep * Stage Door Cartoon * Stork Naked * A Street Cat Named Sylvester * Sugar and Spies * Suppressed Duck * Swing Ding Amigo * Target Snafu * A Taste of Catnip * Tease for Two * Three Brothers * Tom Tom Tomcat * Tree for Two * The Trial of Mr. Wolf * Tweet Tweet Tweety * Tweetie Pie * Tweety's S.O.S. * The Wabbit Who Came to Supper * Well Worn Daffy * What's Cookin' Doc? * The Wild Chase * Wise Quackers * Yankee Doodle Bugs * Yankee Doodle Daffy Category:Animators Category:1914 Births Category:1981 Deaths Category:Real People Category:Deceased Category:Looney Tunes Animators